engleski

Dimensions of children's self-evaluations in relation to perceived social support from different sources

The first objective in this investigation was to compare young girls' and boys' self-evaluations in different domains. The second objective was to examine the relationship between perceived social support from different sources and self-concept dimensions. The sample comprised 179 girls and 161 boys with a mean age of twelve years and eight months. Subjects were administered Harter's (1985) instruments measuring global self-worth and different self-concept dimensions as well as perceived social support from different sources. Significant sex differences were found on scholastic competence, physical appearance and global self-worth subscales with boys scoring higher than girls. Boys also stated that they received more support from teachers, while perceived social support from friends was higher among girls. Separate regression analyses were conducted for girls' and boys' samples with five subscales tapping specific self-concept domains and global self-worth as criterion variables and different sources of perceived social support as predictors. Overall, the results showed that perceived support from classmates and/or friends significantly contributed to higher self-evaluations in all of the domains examined. In addition, support from parents significantly predicted boys' and girls' global self-worth ratings, while perceived support from teachers was a significant predictor of behavioural conduct ratings in both samples. The findings also indicated that support from adults (parents and teachers) might be more important for the development of girls' self-evaluations. The results are discussed in relation to different patterns of socialization of boys and girls.

self-concept; sex differences; social support

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